


What Stays Between You and Me

by rinnenotsubasa



Series: Secret Kisses Behind the School Gym [2]
Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Established Relationship, First Kiss, Flashbacks, Fluff, Kissing, M/M, Strangers to Lovers, not-so-bad-boy hao, not-so-good-boy wonu
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:47:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26731624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rinnenotsubasa/pseuds/rinnenotsubasa
Summary: The quiet high school sophomore Jeon Wonwoo made a sensation two weeks ago as he revealed to the whole school that he’s dating the infamous bad boy Xu Minghao. They had been dating for a little more than a year and had kept it a secret just for fun (yes, Wonwoo loved trolling people as much as his so-called delinquent boyfriend).But even though their relationship status was no longer a secret, there were still some things that they kept just between the two of them.
Relationships: Jeon Wonwoo/Xu Ming Hao | The8
Series: Secret Kisses Behind the School Gym [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1945573
Comments: 4
Kudos: 76





	What Stays Between You and Me

**Author's Note:**

> This is a mix of sequel and prequel for Secret Kisses Behind the School Gym. Should be readable without reading the previously published fic but don’t take my word on it, I didn’t beta this.

"I can wait in line," Wonwoo tried to convince the first year, but the younger male shook his head furiously.

“Please!” The way his eyes were begging (desperately) told Wonwoo that it’s useless to negotiate any further. So the sophomore turned his head towards the other students currently taking the queue in front of the cafeteria cashier.

However, as soon as Wonwoo met their eyes, the other students scrambled out of the line, leaving an empty path from Wonwoo’s spot to the cashier lady. Wonwoo widened his eyes in horror.

“No, no, no, no! It’s fine! You don’t have to… please!” Wonwoo pleaded, only to no avail. His fellow students looked like they’d rather be told to run the field naked rather than making Jeon Wonwoo--no, Xu Minghao’s boyfriend--wait in line.

Before Wonwoo could give another shot, he felt weight on his left shoulder and warmth pressing behind him, followed by a familiar voice.

“They insist, so why don’t you just go ahead?”

Wonwoo already knew who it was but he twisted his neck anyway. He saw Minghao grinning, not in the childish way that he only showed in front of selected people, but the kind that had a devilish charm. It’s the face of Xu Minghao the delinquent that everyone was so keen on believing. Not many knew that it was just a show. A big prank.

Yes, his boyfriend put up the bad boy facade only because he found it amusing. Minghao got the thrills from seeing the other students avoiding his gaze or shuddering when they passed on the hall. There've been stories going around about Minghao’s escapades as the town’s delinquent. Some of them were pretty wild and absurd, and as someone who knew the real Minghao, Wonwoo couldn’t help but roll his eyes. Minghao wouldn’t hurt a fly, at least if the fly doesn’t hurt another being weaker than it. Yet the rumors grew more and more outrageous, and one of Minghao’s favorite free time activities was to choose one of the most interesting stories and tell it to Wonwoo while trying not to laugh his ass off. It’s a weird hobby of his but Wonwoo still loved him anyway. 

In fact, Wonwoo had helped Minghao with one of his pranks, the exact one that got Wonwoo into this situation at the cafeteria. Two weeks ago during the school festival, Minghao raised his hand for the couple popularity contest and invited Wonwoo to the stage. They even shared chaste kisses to the cheeks right in front of everyone. The crowd went  _ crazy _ because no one knew that Wonwoo and Minghao were dating. 

Wonwoo and Minghao’s relationship had been going on for more than a year, but they never acknowledged each other’s presence at school before the big reveal. There’s nothing deep to it. Wonwoo didn’t really care about his “bookworm image” getting tarnished and Minghao certainly didn’t think of dating Wonwoo as something to be ashamed of. It’s just to humor Minghao, and yes, Wonwoo too (he never admitted it out loud but he enjoyed trolling people as much as his boyfriend did).

That’s why previously they would sneak behind the gym building or at other hidden areas of the school to eat lunch together, and after meals Wonwoo usually read a book while Minghao took a nap on his lap. Other times they’d have an easy conversation about random things, although honestly more than often they’d find themselves kissing (if Wonwoo had to choose between spending a day not eating or not kissing Minghao, he’d choose to starve his stomach).

Now that their relationship status had been revealed to the world, Wonwoo was placed in somewhat a predicament. His close friends Soonyoung and Seungkwan were still hanging out with him, although they often got nervous when Minghao joined. As for the other students, their way of viewing Wonwoo had transformed drastically despite Wonwoo acting like his usual quiet self. Suddenly they looked at Wonwoo as if he would kick them in the ass if they ever crossed him. Wonwoo couldn’t even kick a soccer ball properly in P.E. class.

Seeing his schoolmates making way for him in the cashier queue made Wonwoo feel bad, but there’s nothing he could do to convince them. And now that Minghao was here, his boyfriend urged him to make use of this opportunity and so Wonwoo moved his heavy feet through the cleared path towards the cashier table.

Done with payment, Wonwoo and Minghao headed to a table where Soonyoung and Seungkwan were sitting. Wonwoo’s friends no longer get startled when they see Minghao, although they didn’t really relax around Wonwoo’s boyfriend. It’s not that often they eat lunch together anyway. Normally Wonwoo and Minghao would spend lunch with just the two of them, but today Wonwoo couldn’t bring a lunchbox and so he had to buy his meal. 

Minghao had bread today (he had a single bread for almost every lunch, being a small eater) and quickly finished his lunch. As they were in a room full with other students and also school staff, Minghao didn’t try to sleep on Wonwoo’s lap or be too clingy. He simply gazed at Wonwoo’s face while Wonwoo ate, sometimes he’d talk and Wonwoo listened, and twice he asked Wonwoo to feed him some of his meal (not because he’s hungry, Wonwoo knew that and complied to it anyway). 

When Wonwoo finally finished his lunch, he caught Soonyoung and Seungkwan watching them, with eyes that looked almost as shocked as the time Minghao called Wonwoo’s name at the school festival. Wonwoo sighed. It’s been two weeks and his friends seemed to still find it mind-boggling that he and Minghao were an item.

“What?” Wonwoo asked with a small chuckle. 

While Soonyoung shook his head fervently, Seungkwan replied, “It’s just... “ He paused his words to move his hands in the air. It looked like Seungkwan didn’t even know what to do with his hands and just made random motions.

“How did you two even get together?” Seungkwan said, finally. Now that Seungkwan had posed the question, Wonwoo realized that he hadn’t told his friends the whole story. 

There’s something inside Wonwoo’s heart that felt restless with the thought of sharing the story of him and Minghao. It’s like somehow he’s convinced, this memory was only meant to be kept between the two of them. He turned his head to his boyfriend, and although Minghao spoke nothing, Wonwoo saw Minghao’s eyes saying “Whatever feels right for you.”

And so Wonwoo told his friends the “Director Wonwoo cut version”.

“We bumped into each other in town when we were in junior high. And we just, you know, started talking… and here we are.” 

His friends obviously didn’t think the story was that simple, but they didn’t push Wonwoo to tell more. Wonwoo was grateful for such good friends.

Later after the school hour ended and the last bell rang, Wonwoo found Minghao in front of his classroom. It was rare. Now that they had gone public with their relationship, they often left school together, but usually they’d meet at the shoe locker area or the front door. Never before had Minghao picked him up in his classroom. Wonwoo himself didn’t expect it, and so his classmates who tried to make themselves as tiny as possible and dash through their classroom door. 

“Hey.” Ignoring the other students, Wonwoo greeted his boyfriend with a smile. The way Minghao replied his gaze told Wonwoo that everyone else but Wonwoo was gone from Minghao’s sight. 

“Nice to see you sooner today,” Wonwoo continued, the edges of his lips still curving up. He meant his words even though it’s just a few minutes earlier than usual.

“Can’t stay away from you for too long,” Minghao said, his smile growing wider. Wonwoo thought it was adorable and he wanted to see more expressions from Minghao.

So when they stood side by side and started walking through the hall, Wonwoo leaned his head slightly to his boyfriend and whispered, “Me or my lips?”

From the corner of his eyes Wonwoo saw Minghao’s wide smile turning into a mischievous grin. Wonwoo had to hold back a grin of his own. Although Minghao’s grin was cute, Wonwoo believed his own was not.

After they got their shoes from the locker, Minghao started to tell him why today was different. 

“Let’s not go home so soon,” said Minghao.

“So where should we go?”

“Here. At school,” Minghao answered shortly as he gestured Wonwoo away from the school gate. “It’s a special day.”

Wonwoo tilted his head as he followed Minghao. He didn’t remember today being an anniversary. It’s not the day they started dating; they had celebrated their first anniversary four months ago. And it’s not the first day they met; Minghao would never let him forget it and it’s definitely not today. Did he miss anything?

It seemed that Minghao sensed Wonwoo’s confusion and let out a chuckle.

“It’s okay, you’ll find out soon. No worries, it’s cool even if you can’t remember it immediately…. It’s been too often that it might not be worth celebrating but… you know me,” said Minghao with a somewhat shy smile.

It got Wonwoo even more curious. And so as they kept walking, Wonwoo tried to recall the memories with his boyfriend.

  
  


****

It was four against one, not a fair fight, and yet the solo player was winning. When Wonwoo happened to pass this particular spot of the riverbank, the blond male student had the four black-haired boys writhing on the ground. The one boy standing had a different uniform from the others, and although Wonwoo couldn’t put a school name to their attire, he knew that they were all junior high school students. Were they seniors like Wonwoo or younger, there’s no way for Wonwoo to know.

Didn’t matter anyway. Wonwoo should’ve just run far away while he had the chance. He’s just an ordinary junior high school student who loved a quiet time with books or with the town’s beautiful scenery. He’s got a high school entrance exam in less than six months and it’s not a good idea to get himself involved with a delinquent.

And yet Wonwoo stayed on his spot as the four boys ran away, didn’t move a limb when the remaining blond boy turned his head and met his gaze.

The two of them just stood there in silence, gaze locked. It was the blond boy that first removed his gaze and lifted his chin up, enabling him to glare down at Wonwoo even though he’s not any taller than him.

“Aren’t you afraid?” the blond boy asked with a challenging tone.

Strangely enough, Wonwoo wasn’t scared. It was clear that the blond boy had beaten the other boys enough for them to give up the fight and flee the scene. But ganging up on someone was equally bad. Moreover, now there’s a tiny kitten circling the blond’s feet. From the way the kitten was rubbing his body to the boy, the little fur ball didn’t seem to see the boy as a threat. Wonwoo didn’t miss the bruises on the poor creature, and his brain put all those things together to make a conclusion.

So instead of running away, Wonwoo walked towards the blond boy until they were only two steps apart and said, “Let’s get the kitten some help.”

******

“THIS IS TOO HARD,” Minghao groaned before dropping his face to his open notebook. It was so adorable that Wonwoo couldn’t hold back a smile, but wouldn’t let Minghao give up so soon.

“Come on, Hao. I promise you only have to work on these ten for today. No more,” Wonwoo tried to coax his sulking friend. 

The two of them were sitting in the living room of Minghao’s uncle to prepare for the high school entrance exam. It’s been several weeks since they started this routine study session, and actually Minghao was doing quite well despite his claims of being a “bad student.” The only subject Minghao needed to put a lot of effort on was Chemistry, the one they’re practicing on right now.

As much as Wonwoo sympathized with Minghao, he really wanted Minghao to do well in Chemistry so that his overall score gets high enough to be accepted in the same high school as Wonwoo. It’s only been three months since Wonwoo knew the blond and started this unlikely friendship, and yet Wonwoo already felt like he couldn’t bear being apart from him for too long.

Wonwoo turned the wheels in his head and tried to think of something to get Minghao motivated again. There’s one idea that made his cheeks burn, but also very tempting for Wonwoo himself.

In the end Wonwoo decided to go with his crazy idea. “If you study hard enough and pass… I’ll give you a kiss…”

Minghao pulled his torso up so quickly it startled Wonwoo. Apparently Minghao was equally surprised, judging from his widening eyes. The blond might not have realized how many times Wonwoo had caught him looking at Wonwoo’s lips. And probably not the fact that Wonwoo also looked at Minghao’s equally often. 

When the entrance exam result was announced, Wonwoo asked Minghao when and where he wanted the prize. He didn’t expect Minghao to refuse it.

“Can I ask for something else? ……..will you be my boyfriend?”

Wonwoo didn’t have to think twice for his answer.

  
  
  


***

“Are you mad at me?” Minghao suddenly asked. 

The two of them were strolling at one corner of their school grounds, on a small path starting from the field and heading towards the storage. The storage was the oldest building in this high school, that’s what Wonwoo heard as soon as he became a student here. And within one month he’s been here, there had been a lot of talks about how haunted the storage was. His boyfriend wasn’t too interested at first, but he’s running out of interesting things to do so that’s how they ended up heading to the rumored haunted place.

Wonwoo assumed that Minghao was referring to them going for this “investigation” and he answered, “I wasn’t lying. I’m really fine with ghost stories.”

“No, I didn’t mean that,” Minghao said as he stopped on his tracks, prompting Wonwoo to halt his steps too. They happened to arrive right next to their target destination, Wonwoo could see the bleak gray wall of the storage building behind Minghao.

When Minghao spoke again, he was looking at Wonwoo with sincere concern in his eyes. “You’ve been kind of… I thought you’re angry at me for asking to keep us a secret.”

Minghao’s words were a surprise for Wonwoo. Minghao had indeed asked him to act like strangers in high school.  _ It would be fun _ , Minghao said. Wonwoo agreed that playing pretend in front of others and sneaking off together for a tryst at school were exhilarating. So Wonwoo told his boyfriend the truth.

“You’re not the only one getting a thrill from it.”

Minghao acknowledged his answer with a little smile and a cheesy, “We’re destined to be together.” But it was obvious that Minghao wasn’t completely convinced.

It was true that Wonwoo had been acting a bit different, especially the past two weeks. He still met with Minghao for their secret rendezvous, but at times Wonwoo would stay quiet and frowning. When Minghao asked what’s wrong, Wonwoo would avoid telling the reason by saying he’s just tired from staying up all night reading. It’s a lie and they both knew it.

The problem was Wonwoo didn’t know how Minghao would react if he had been honest. It was a bit scary, as the reason stemmed from Wonwoo’s overflowing affection for his boyfriend. He’s afraid it would throw Minghao off to say: he liked Minghao so much that he wanted to always cling to his boyfriend whenever they’re alone and worse, to have Minghao’s lips on his for as long as possible. 

It’s only been three months since they started a romantic relationship and as this was Wonwoo’s first experience in dating, he didn’t know what would be normal to do and when’s the correct timing. So far they have been going on dates and they’ve held hands. At school when they had their private lunch they would sit so close to each other that their shoulders were touching, and Minghao often spent the rest of recess time dozing with his head resting on Wonwoo’s shoulder. One time Minghao had even put his head on Wonwoo’s lap, a memory which Wonwoo couldn’t brush off his mind for many, many days.

The short three months were enough for Wonwoo to make him want more of Minghao, and he’s terrified that it would make Minghao overwhelmed. 

But now as Minghao stood next to the storage, looking at him with a mix of concern and sadness in his eyes, Wonwoo thought there’s no other way than to come clean.

He wasn’t ready to tell the whole truth though, so Wonwoo settled by saying, “I’m sorry.. I’m actually upset about our entrance exam.”

His words got Minghao tilting his head in confusion. Of course, the entrance exam was a matter from months ago, and it was strange for Wonwoo to bring it up now. But Minghao simply gave Wonwoo a patient gaze and waited. 

“I offered you a prize for passing. You denied it and haven’t claimed it ever since,” Wonwoo tried not to avert his gaze away as he said that.

What he got as a response was Minghao’s widening eyes and a confused, “You want me to kiss you?”

Wonwoo had to fight hard to stop embarrassment and fear from making him look away from his boyfriend’s face. He needed to do this properly. “Well, we are dating, and I, uh, I like you…” He was, however, unable to keep a composed voice and the end of his sentence ended up almost like a mumble.

“In here?” Minghao asked again, still looking stunned.

“W-what about it?”

Minghao paused for a moment and Wonwoo had many ugly thoughts during the silence. However Minghao brushed them all away by breaking into a wide grin and saying with a teasing one, “Are you sure you don’t want a more romantic setting?”

Minghao had a point. It might not be the best place for a first kiss. But Wonwoo didn’t know if he could do it in a situation that’s filled with even more feelings. Also he didn’t think he could stand another night of thinking about Minghao’s lips and cursing himself for being a chicken.

“The place is not the important thing,” Wonwoo rambled nonsense to distract himself from his erratic heartbeat as he saw Minghao walking closer to him.

“Then what is it?” said Minghao without stopping on his steps. As Minghao got closer, Wonwoo started to see that Minghao wasn’t as calm as he thought. His boyfriend’s cheeks were tinted in red and when Wonwoo glanced downward he could see that Minghao’s steps were somewhat wobbly. The realization didn’t stop Wonwoo’s heart from beating hard against his ribcage, but it did bring him a reassuring warmth.

When Minghao stopped right in front of him, barely a space between their feet, Wonwoo looked at his boyfriend in the eyes and saw the same fond gaze that Minghao gave when Wonwoo agreed to be his. 

“What matters is that I like you and I want to kiss you… And you do too.”

To Wonwoo’s words, Minghao whispered, “True” and placed his right hand on Wonwoo’s left cheek. Before the hand started pulling him closer, Wonwoo was already leaning forward.

  
  


****

Wonwoo followed his boyfriend of more than a year to a corner of the school that was quiet and free of people. It was a small path leading to the school’s storage and normally no one would come here except for the school staff, especially with the rumors of the building being haunted. There might be a few odd kids who dared come near, like Wonwoo and Minghao when they were a freshman.

Exactly a year ago.

“Oh my God,” Wonwoo blurted as he followed Minghao closer to the storage. “We’re celebrating our first kiss?” He was surprised that Minghao even remembered the date. Wonwoo had to admit that he completely forgot, and to be honest every day he was much more concerned about when exactly he could kiss Minghao the next day, as he had been kissing Minghao for almost every day for more than half a year and wouldn’t even think about stopping. 

True to his words earlier, Minghao didn’t seem to be mad that Wonwoo only figured it out now. His eyes were glinting in a mix of excitement and affection, so bright that Wonwoo couldn’t help but falling in love even more.

Minghao laughed as he pressed his own back to the wall and opened his arms. Wonwoo mirrored his laugh and slipped himself into the space for Minghao to put his arms around Wonwoo’s neck. 

“Are you ready to reminisce?” Minghao twinkled his eyes.

“Won’t be a perfect replay,” Wonwoo whispered as he put his forehead on Minghao’s. “It was just a peck back then. I want more.”

“And that you shall get.”


End file.
